The present invention generally relates to a copying arrangement and more particularly, to a copying apparatus provided with a mode reserving function.
The mode reserving function in a copying apparatus as referred to above means such a function that enables a particular operator to preliminarily set in the copying apparatus, the number of sheets to be copied, copying magnifications, density, and size of copying sheets, etc. which are required when the operator actually effects his copying, even when another operator is using said copying apparatus. In many cases, in a copying apparatus associated with an automatic original document feeding device (referred to as an ADF unit hereinafter), the above function is combined for application with another function which makes it possible to transport an original document of the particular operator subsequent to the original document of another operator. In the above case, an automatic changeover of the copying mode is required by checking that the copying of the original document for another operator has been completed, and for this purpose, there have conventionally been proposed such systems as follows.
(i) A system in which the number of original documents is preset besides the number of sheets to be copied (number of copies) for change-over of the mode upon termination of the number of original documents. PA0 (ii) Another system in which a special sheet is placed on a first sheet of the original documents for each of the operators so as to enable the automatic original document feeding unit to read a mark affixed on the special sheet for judgement of change-over of the original document.
However, in the above system (i) as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,609, it is necessary to preset the number of original documents to be copied by the designated mode, when the copying function is to be effected with respect to a large number of original documents, thus involving such troublesome procedures that the number of the original documents must be counted each time.
Meanwhile, in the above known system (ii) as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Tokkaisho No. 57-181559, data representing the copying execution mode as referred to above are written in a data sheet, for example, by painting out the mark so that the ADF unit reads the data for discrimination between the data for starting a new mode and the data for various set conditions. However, in the actual application, the work involved for writing in the data sheet is considerably troublesome, while the reading mechanism of the ADF unit is complicated thereby, thus presenting a serious problem in the actual use.